The World in Words

The World in Words podcast is about language — everything from bilingual education to the globalization of English to Icelandic insults. Hosted by The World's Patrick Cox. Subscribe to the podcast: RSS| iTunes

There are plenty of people learning Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language, and those numbers are growing. But those students typically learn the language to read old books, and it turns out trying to use it as a spoken language is a challenge.

We humans have been dropping "um," "uh" and other expressions of hesitation into our speech for a long time — maybe for as long as we've had language. More recently, linguists are noting a shift in usage across a number of Germanic languages from "uh" to "um."

An online photo album is casting new light on a forgotten episode in Hawaii's history, when US authorities imported 1,500 Russians to work on sugar plantations. Most of the migrants never made it past the language and cultural barrier, but the story of how they came to Hawaii says plenty about American attitudes to race and language.

"Africans are incredible linguists," says Lori Thicke, founder of Translators Without Borders, which enlists Africans to translate everything from medication instructions to election materials into some of Africa's 1,000+ languages.

People on the fringes of society — criminals, discriminated-against minorities, rebellious teenagers — often need to speak in code. So they create secret languages, or argots. In Turkey, the LGBT community and others keep their words to themselves with the help of an argot called Lubunca.

French has long been the language of education in Haiti, despite the fact that few Haitians actually speak it. But while their native tongue, Creole, was once disdained as merely broken French, there's now a movement to make it the centerpiece of teaching on the island.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's president, is trying to make the long-lost Ottoman form of Turkish a mandatory part of his country's schooling. Some Turks are excited to be reconnected to their history, but others say it's simply part of Erdoğan's religious political agenda.

Disney has released the hit song from Frozen, "Let it Go," which includes 25 different languages — most of them European and none from Africa. This follows criticism that Disney has again depicted its female lead as blue-eyed and blonde-haired.

We humans have been dropping "um," "uh" and other expressions of hesitation into our speech for a long time — maybe for as long as we've had language. More recently, linguists are noting a shift in usage across a number of Germanic languages from "uh" to "um."

It's Nobel Prize season. While scientists throughout the world will be awarded this prestigious prize, there's a good chance all of their research was written up in English. Michael Gordin, a professor of the history of science at Princeton, wrote a new book, "Scientific Babel" that explores the intersection of the history of language and science.

Because the word's origins are murky, it's difficult to know just how insulting calling someone a "coonass" used to be. Today, some Cajuns view the word as an ethnic slur, while others have embraced it as a badge of honor.

'Selfie' is topping some word of the year lists. Its rise to fame has been so rapid that it doesn't exist in most other languages. Speakers of those languages just use the English word, and they don't have much choice about it if they want to be part of the conversation on social media.

It's Nobel Prize season. While scientists throughout the world will be awarded this prestigious prize, there's a good chance all of their research was written up in English. Michael Gordin, a professor of the history of science at Princeton, wrote a new book, "Scientific Babel" that explores the intersection of the history of language and science.

Updated

12/17/2014 - 3:30pm

We take simultaneous interpretation for granted today, watching world leaders at the UN and other organizations listen to speeches being translated in real time. But there was a time not too long ago when even the thought of someone instantly translating speech was impossible.

An online photo album is casting new light on a forgotten episode in Hawaii's history, when US authorities imported 1,500 Russians to work on sugar plantations. Most of the migrants never made it past the language and cultural barrier, but the story of how they came to Hawaii says plenty about American attitudes to race and language.

If you've ever struggled through Marcel Proust's seven-volume epic, "Remembrance of Things Past," you have C.K. Scott Moncrieff to thank. Moncrieff introduced the French novelist to the world with his translation, while also living lives as a poet, soldier and spy in his own right.

We humans have been dropping "um," "uh" and other expressions of hesitation into our speech for a long time — maybe for as long as we've had language. More recently, linguists are noting a shift in usage across a number of Germanic languages from "uh" to "um."

French has long been the language of education in Haiti, despite the fact that few Haitians actually speak it. But while their native tongue, Creole, was once disdained as merely broken French, there's now a movement to make it the centerpiece of teaching on the island.